"When the Dalesmen this had done,
And thus destroyed the foe,
I have been told of a truth
That six of them were killed
In the battle on the cliff;
And there were stretched as corpses,
Beside those who wounded were,
Who are but few to mention."
The Bönder proceeded at once with the prisoners to Qvam, a parish annexed to Froen. After the glory just acquired, the Bönder committed next day a sanguinary deed, which the inhabitants of the valley now speak of with abhorrence, wishing it had never been done. "The principal men among those who were there" wished indeed that the prisoners, whom they had confined in a barn at Klomstad farm, should all be conveyed to Agershuus.
"But this pleased not the Dalesmen
That they should thus take them
Through the long and narrow way,
And give the country trouble."
The majority shouted that the prisoners should all lose their lives, on which, so strong was the general exasperation, they took them out of the barn,[106] one by one, and shot them all, except eighteen or some few more. Five or six whom, owing, it is said, to "magic art," the shots would not affect, were put to death with pikes. The "Ballad of the Valley" says:—
"They minded neither lead nor powder,
It dried upon their brows;
So tough was their flesh and their skin
That lead could not through them go.
Through cunning and magic art,
Which they learned to a nicety,
What was done to them was in vain,—
They did not even hiccough;
So (the Bönder) took to their sharp pikes,
And had to run them through;
Then both skin and flesh were torn,
And they made an end of them.
But of the prisoners there were spared,
I know, one less than twenty.
Amongst them were two captains—
I will not tell a lie—
The one Captain Bruce by name,
The other Captain Ramsey."
Kruse writes respecting the prisoners:—"On the day the battle took place one hundred and thirty-four Scots were taken prisoners, who were straightway the next day killed and shot by the Bönder, with the exception of the above-named eighteen, the Bönder saying to each other that his Royal Majesty had enough to feed in those same eighteen. Some of these were, however, wounded, and some had bullets in their bodies when they arrived here.[107] Of the above-mentioned eighteen soldiers we now send to you[108] the three principal ones, who are a captain of the name of Alexander Ramsay, and his lieutenant of the name of Jacob Mannepenge [James Moneypenny], who has previously been both in Denmark and Sweden, and who on this their expedition served as an interpreter; the third is called Herrich Bryssz [Henry Bruce], who, according to his own statement, has served as a soldier in Holland, Spain, and Hungary. As regards the remaining fifteen persons, some of them have straightway taken service among good folk here in the country, and some who will willingly serve your Royal Majesty in Jörgen Lunge's[109] regiment, I sent at once to Elfsborg." This is alluded to as follows in the Valley Ballad:—
"They were then to the castle brought,
No desire had they to remain....
They could not relish the fare so hard
Which the Gudbrandsdal men gave—
Here are not many hens or sheep—
But lead and powder they got in their insides."
That at least eighteen remained alive can thus be seen from Kruse's Report, and, moreover, that some few remained behind in the valley is recorded by tradition. Storm sings that none of the Scots ever saw their own country again. Nevertheless it is related of at least one of them that "he came home."[110] The place in Qvam parish where the Scots killed at the barn were buried, is still shown a little to the north of the barn, and is called Skothaugen ("The Scot hillock").
The conduct of the Bönder towards their prisoners can certainly not in any way be justified; but so long as there is much that can be pleaded in extenuation, we should, on the other hand, be cautious in pronouncing an unqualified condemnation. According to tradition, they were excited to that deed by Peder Klognæs, who had seen so many cruelties committed by the Scots on the way, and who had himself suffered so much at their hands. It can be imagined that the real state of the case was possibly this: the Bönder, weary after a march of several days, and after the last day's work and fighting, came to Qvam with their prisoners, when they began, it may be supposed, to be weary of leading them further. It was the busy harvest time; they were possibly short of provisions. Perhaps some of them had a debauch, as previously at Sel, and excited by liquor as well as by the account of the cruelties of the Scots, they considered the latter worthy of death, and quickly set to work to slaughter them, notwithstanding that the principal men had opposed such a proceeding. (See ante.) It may be that the prisoners themselves had given them fresh cause for exasperation during their conveyance or while they were being guarded; and such a supposition is all the more within the range of possibility, since it is otherwise very singular that the Bönder did not kill their prisoners immediately after the affair at Solhjem (since their exasperation was so great on the following day), but conducted them one mile and a half (Norwegian) on the way to Agershuus.
Special circumstances, no longer known, may have occurred as contributory reasons for such conduct. Moreover, before pronouncing judgment on the inhabitants of Gudbrandsdal, we must remember that wars at that time, and the Calmar War as a whole, were conducted with much cruelty, and we must take into consideration the spirit of the age. Nor should we forget that more than two centuries lie between them and us. A far higher stage of culture has been attained of later years, and yet they have produced not a few examples of similar barbarity. We have only to remember what is related respecting the cruelty of the Duke of Cumberland in 1746 after the battle of Culloden in Scotland, General Moreno's murder of General Torrejos and his sixty comrades in misfortune on the plains before Malaga in 1832, General Minas's cruelty at Lacaroz in 1835, and the cruelties of the Carlists towards the English prisoners at Tolosa in 1837, etc.
(Now in the Anglican Church, Christiania).—Page 117.
Respecting one of the Scottish prisoners who remained alive, tradition relates that when he saw a musket being aimed at him he ran to Ingebrikt Valde[111] of Vaage, and with pitiful gesticulations asked for life and protection, seeking shelter under his horse; whereupon Ingebrikt lifted his axe in defence of the man, threatening to cut down any one who killed him. That Scot is said to have been a glazier, and to have subsequently settled in the country. As a token of his gratitude he sent some windows to Ingebrikt Valde, whom in his letters he always called his "life's father." Of these windows one is still to be seen at Valde farm.[112] Some lines, burnt into one of the panes, form a shield, on which are seen a figure like a crest (perhaps Ingebrikt Valde's seal or signature) and an angel with hands held protectingly over it. Another of the prisoners remained in Vaage, where he got a piece of land to cultivate, and which clearing is now a farm called Skotlien.
Either at the engagement at Kringlen or during the affair at Solhjem one of the Scots is said to have saved himself by swimming over the Laagen, whence he took to the mountains. In the evening (the mountains being only a Norwegian mile across) he came down to Ellingsbö farm in Hedalen, and his appearance bespoke fright and hunger. The farmer, who, according to Gram's Census, was called Christian, placed food before him. While the Scot sat and ate the mowers came home. At the sight of those men and their scythes he thought they were some of those who had been at Kringlen, so he jumped up and showed signs of fear lest his life should be taken; but the Bonde soon quieted him. The Scot remained there four years, went to Oslo,[113] where he settled as a goldsmith, and sent as a present to his benefactor at Ellingsbö silver cups for his children.
From one of the prisoners, who is said to have been a cardmaker, and who married in the country, a family with the surname of Matheson is descended, and several of its members still reside in the province of Trondhjem.[114]
Among the prisoners was also a woman, whom Lars Hage afterwards met at the house of a merchant at Oslo. He recognized her, and she him. The merchant told her to draw a jug of ale for the man. But as he would not drink, she said, "Drink, good man, I have done you no harm;" and the merchant having asked her, "Do you know to whom you are offering that good ale?" she replied, "I know him well enough. They were not 'boors,' but devils, that lay in the bushes."[115]
A prisoner who had been quartered at Veikle farm in Qvam parish, and who had been well treated, sent later, says tradition, "when he got home," six silver spoons to the farmer,[116] as a token of remembrance. Respecting two other prisoners, one of whom was at a farm in Qvam, the other at a farm in Sel, it is related that they were shot the same autumn, "as the proprietors did not find it would pay them to feed them over the winter." Another of the prisoners is said to have been killed at Vaage. The farmer with whom he lived took him on a journey into the woods. On the way, it is said, they began to talk about the battle at Kringlen. The prisoner having said that if the Scots had known about the Bönder as much as the latter had known of them matters would have turned out differently, the farmer got angry and cut his prisoner down on the spot.
It is related of the Bönder from Vaage that on the return homewards they met at Kalsteen, in Vaage, a portion of the men of Lom who intended to encounter the Scots. An argument arose between the men of Vaage, proud of victory, and those of Lom, and a bloody battle very nearly ensued, but it was prevented by individual representations. A certain Peder Killie[117] of Dovre is reported to have said on his return home from the battle that he thanked God he had not fired a shot at the Scots; but when another Bonde, his neighbour, heard this, he became angry, quickly cocked his gun to shoot him, and would have killed him had not others intervened and prevented him.
A man called, Jörgen Fjerdingreen[118] of Hedalen is said to have got possession of Sinclair's money-chest (or holster), and was carrying it home on a pack-horse. At Breden farm he went inside to enjoy himself; but spending a long time over his dinner, the holster, which he had left outside, was carried away.[119] This has given rise to the saying, which, however, is not very general, "to dine like Jörgen."
Sinclair's body was carried to Qvam and there buried just outside the church-yard, as the exasperated Bönder would not allow him to lie in consecrated ground. It is told that one of his relatives thought he had not been killed, but only taken prisoner, and therefore came to Norway in search of him, but found only his grave. A simple wooden post close to the road, a little to the south of the church,[120] shows to this day where he lies buried. A board with the following inscription is fastened to the post:—
Here below rests
Mr. Colonel George Jörgen Sinkler,
Who fell at Kringlene,
In the year 1612, with a force of 900 Scots,
Who were crushed like earthen pots
By a smaller number of 300 Bönder
Of Lessöe, Waage, Froen; and the
Leader of the Bönder was Berdon
Sejelstad of Ringeboe Parish.[121]
On the spot where Sinclair and his Scots fell, a monument was also raised in commemoration of the event. In lieu of the stone pillar which, according to Slange, had the inscription, "Here was Colonel George Sinclair shot the 26th August, anno 1612," the present post was raised in 1733, on the occasion of King Christian the Sixth's journey to Trondhjem. The monument, which stands under the shadow of a birch tree on the top of the hill beside the road, and a few paces to the south of the spot where Sinclair was shot, is in the form of a simple wooden cross, with a board on which the inscription is as follows:—
"Courage, loyalty, bravery, and all that gives honour,
The whole world 'midst Norwegian rocks can learn.
An example is there seen of such bravery,
Among the rocks in the North, on this very spot:
A fully-armed corps of some hundred Scots
Was here crushed like earthen pots;
They found that bravery, with loyalty and courage,
Lived in full glow in the breasts of the men of Gudbrandsdal.
Jörgen[122] von Zinclair,[123] as the leader of the Scots,
Thought within himself, 'No one will here meddle with me.'
But, lo! a small number of Bönder confronted him,
Who bore to him Death's message by powder and by ball.
Our northern monarch, King Christian the Sixth,
To honour on his way,[124] we have erected this;
For him we are ready to risk our blood and life,
Until our breath goes out and our bodies lie stiff."
Page 123. "In commemoration of the bravery of the Bönder, 1612."
Yet another post in commemoration of the battle was set up by a private individual in the year 1826, a little to the north of Kringlen, at the farm of Pladsen or Söudre (South) Kringlen. It is about five feet high, of soapstone, and in the form of an obelisk surmounted by a ball. This monument will be set up in a more appropriate place when the road is altered.[125] The inscription on it will only be in these words, "The 26th August 1612."
The origin of the plant called cow-bane or water hemlock[126] (Cicuta virosa s. aquatica), which is very poisonous, and which grows in great quantities in a marsh at Nordre (North) Sel, dates, according to tradition, from the time of the Scots. It is said the Scots sowed that herb; but that this has only been attributed to them out of hatred need scarcely be added. On an islet opposite Kringlen stood, until the great flood of 1789, a large fir tree, in the trunk of which some musket balls, as well as many traces of them, were to be found, and some years ago human bones were found where the wooden cross now stands. Various weapons and other things still remain after the Scots in many parts of the valley. Thus at the farm of Mælum in Bredebygd is a drum, which is called the "Scots' drum." It was brought thirty or forty years ago from Ringebo, where it was likewise known under the same name.[127] At Nordre Bue farm are a musket and a sword which belonged to the Scots. At the farm of Söudre Kringlen or Pladsen a spur and a knife were found a short time ago on the hill where the battle took place. In the parish of Vaage, at Lunde farm, is a dirk which had belonged to the Scots. There is also a dirk at Kruke farm in Hedalen, and this is said to be the one with which Mrs. Sinclair stabbed Kjel Fjerdingreen. According to an English traveller who has seen them, these dirks are similar to those still carried by a regiment in Scotland which is armed in the old style. At Fjerdingreen farm is a purse made of steel-wire rings, also a large and a small powder-horn, which are said to have belonged to Colonel Sinclair. In the parish of Dovre, at the farm of Ödegaarden, is preserved a chest bound with iron, which is said to have been Sinclair's money-chest, as well as a large and a small powder-horn, also reported to have belonged to him. There is likewise a powder-horn at the farm of Sönstebö, in the parish of Læssö. Among the things that belonged to Sinclair, Peder Klognæs is said to have got a pair of snuffers, which he took home with him, and which are said to be still preserved at Mandalen farm in Romsdalen. In the Armoury of the fortress of Agershuus[128] are preserved muskets[129] which had belonged to the Scots. In the Museum at Bergen are the stock of a pistol and a powder-horn, and in the Museum of the University of Christiania the stock of a pistol inlaid with ivory—all relics of the Scots. Sinclair's pistols are kept in the Museum at Copenhagen. They are described as follows in the catalogue of the Museum:—
"The locks have pans of the so-called Spanish kind, but amongst the oldest of those patterns the barrels are of brass. On them are engraved the Scottish thistle and the letters A. S. In the year 1690 Lieutenant-General Johan Wibe sent those pistols to King Christian V., with the observation that they had belonged to the 'Scotch Colonel George Sinclair, who in the year 1612 fell with his Scots in Gudbrandsdalen.'"[130]
Page 125. (In Copenhagen Museum.)
At the close of the last century, a Count Laurvig is said to have owned Sinclair's pistols,[131] and Count G. C. R. Thott his musket, which was for a long period preserved in the family of Berdon Sejelstad, who, as the slayer of Sinclair, got it as his booty. At the beginning of the present century Thor Bratt of Tofte owned Sinclair's fighting sword, which he gave away to be sent to the Art Museum at Copenhagen.[132]
Just as Christian IV. punished severely the nobleman Steen Bilde and the men of Stordalen and Jemtland for having made no opposition to Colonel Munkhaven on his march through the country to Sweden, so was the conduct of the men of Gudbrandsdal, differing as it did from that of the others, not allowed by the king to pass unrewarded. By letters-patent, dated from the Castle of Frederiksborg, September 3, 1613, he gave to Lars Hage the farm (Hage) which he occupied, together with the farm of Landnem; to Peder Randklev the farm (Nedre Randklev) on which he lived, together with the farm of Gundestad; and to Berdon Sejelstad likewise the farm he occupied (Övre Sejelstad);—"to them and their descendants in perpetual possession, for their fidelity, diligence, and manliness in the late war."[133]
The descendants both of Lars Hage[134] and of Peder Randklev still live; but the family of Berdon Sejelstad is said to have died out, at all events at the farm where he lived—namely, Övre Sejelstad. Gulbrand lived at Nedre Sejelstad, and the present occupant of the farm is his fifth descendant in a direct line.
According to Hjorthöi's account (part ii., pp. 7, 135, 137, and 138), Arne Gunstad, whom he calls the next in command of the Bönder (from Ringebo?), and who, according to tradition, distinguished himself by his bravery and extraordinary strength, was rewarded by the exemption of his farm from the assessment called "Foring." The same immunity was granted to Lars Hage, Peder Randklev, and Berdon Sejelstad, in respect of their several farms; and that freedom from taxation is enjoyed by those farms to this day.
According to tradition, Audon or Ingebrikt Skjenna of Sel also received as a reward of his bravery the gift of the farm of Sel, of which the present occupiers are said to be his descendants. The girl Guri, says tradition, had the farm of Rindal in Vaage, subsequently called Pillarvigen, given to her as a recompense.
The battle at Kringlen[135] will ever remain a remarkable event in our history. It is certainly not remarkable on account of the number of the combatants or the magnitude of the defeat, but for the manner in which the enemy was annihilated. It was Bönder led only by Bönder who, with presence of mind, knew how to select excellent ground, utilized it with sagacity to carry out in harmony a plan of attack that had been decided upon, and who fell with such courage on a superior enemy. Moreover, the event will serve to increase the series of examples which history has preserved to us, of how dangerous it is for an enemy to penetrate far into a mountainous country.
FOOTNOTES:
[61] ["Sagn, Samlede om Slaget ved Kringlen," etc. Christiania, 1838. Translated from the Norwegian by the author, who is indebted for much able assistance to Mr. T. T. Somerville of Christiania. The more ancient spelling of proper names, such as "Kringlen," etc., has been retained in this translation.—T. M.]
[62] Vide "History of Gustavus Adolphus," by Joh. Widikindi. Stockholm, 1691. P. 110. "Introduction to Swedish History," by S. Puffendorff. Stockholm, 1688. P. 605. Slange's "History of Christian IV.," published by Gram (1 vol. Copenhagen, 1749. P. 313), and translated into German (with an Appendix) by Schlegel. 1 vol. Copenhagen, 1757. P. 553. What later historians relate respecting the fight at Kringlen is more or less only a repetition of the accounts given by the above authors.
[63] Vide "Samlinger til det Norske Folks Sprog og Historie," vol. 3 B, p. 219.
[64] The Vaage church register contains, with reference to the entire event, only the following lines, entered by Anders Munch, priest, in 1731: "Anno 1612. Colonel Jörgen (George) Zinchel, as he came from Romsdalen with 900 men to combine with the Swedes, who were at Baare Church (that is, Borge Church, in Smaalenene), was attacked by the Bönder at Kringlen, and totally beaten, with all his men, excepting his wife, and three handicraftsmen of whom the Bönder had need."
[65] [This is evident from the documentary history of the two expeditions given in the present work.—T. M.]
[66] In his "Norges Beskr," pp. 85 and 181.
[67] Kruse's Report. [Dean Krag appears to have been acquainted only with Kruse's first Report, which he reproduced as an appendix to his work. The translation of a more accurate copy will be found at p. 180.—T. M.]
[68] Such was the name of the farm in the old church registers. It is now called Klungnæs. Klüwer in his "Norske Mindesmærker" (Norwegian Memorials), p. 124, states that it was a member of the noble family of Skaktavl, persecuted in the reign of Christian II., and who had consequently fled to Romsdalen, where the descendants lived as Bönder on the farm or gaard of Hellan, that Sinclair wanted to compel to pilot his ships into Væblungsnæs.
[69] [A message passed on in the hollow of a staff.—T. M.]
[70] Some say that he wrote this on a piece of wood on the way up to his house from the sea-shore.
[71] [Each seven English.—T. M.]
[72] In his "Reise igjennem Norge" (Travels through Norway), vol. ii., p. 112.
[73] [As already shown, all these accusations are devoid of truth. See Kruse's Official Report, p. 185.—T. M.]
[74] It appears from a Census for the taxation of Gudbrandsdal in 1612 that the farm was at that time occupied by a woman named Birte Eneboe. ("List of those in Gudbrandsdal's bailiwick who were required to pay by Michaelmas day 1612 the tax imposed for the requirements of the war between these three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden.") This list was made out by the bailie Lauritz (or Lars) Gram, and contains the names both of the Odels Bönder (allodial proprietors) and tenants, and of the owners of untenanted farms, sub-tenants, and cottagers in the bailiwick.
[75] The fjeld which Kruse mentions in his Report, and calls Mæratoppene, was undoubtedly near this spot.
[76] The river was thus called in the northern part of Gudbrandsdalen; farther south it was more generally called Laugen.
[77] In Gram's Census are mentioned Trund Töndöffuel, Gunder Biockne, and Peder Nordhuus as tenants in Lessö, but the farm of Kjelshuus is not named.
[78] Rosten is a road along the cliff in Sel, an annex to Vaage, leading to Dovre, and is a different place from Rusten, the name of the road that leads to Vaage. Bægilskleven (Baglerkleven?) lies in Ringebo, and Sinclair is reported to have said that as soon as he reached it, he would take to the fjeld at Odlaug (Olo), a farm in Ringebo, and thence come down to "the high bridge"—that is, Tromse Bridge, in Ringebo, which also well deserved its name, for it consisted of logs laid between two rocks, ninety feet high, over the Tromse river, running below.
[79] Among the soldiers from Gudbrandsdalen who were with that army was a man from Lunde, in Vaage, who is reported to have stated on his return home that he had taken part in the burning of seven parishes.
[80] [District police and sheriff officer.—T. M.]
[81] Slange calls him a "Boelægsmand," which must be a clerical or printer's error, as must also be the name of Hans, instead of Lars, as he is called in the Sagas, and perhaps as he was called in familiar language, or Lauritz, as he is named in Kruse's Report and in Christian Fourth's Deed of Gift, and as he wrote it himself in a letter still kept at Tofte farm, in the parish of Dovre. In Gram's Census he is entered as Lauritz Hage, which was probably considered to have a more distinguished sound than Lars Hage. However, the name Lars does not occur anywhere in that Census, and "Lauritz" is everywhere substituted for it. The bailie Gram also signs himself in the Census not Lars, but "Lauritz," which is also the name on his seal.
[82] The above tradition (Saga) respecting the first plan of the Gudbrandsdal men for attacking Sinclair agrees approximately with Kruse's Report, in which it is stated that Lauritz Hage, as soon as he became aware of the coming of the Scots, "at once roused the Bönder," etc. [See Kruse's Report for end of citation to "who quickly came to his assistance," p. 181.—T. M.]
[83] In Gram's list, Oluff Romoengard, Oluff Oolstad, Alff Jörgenstad, Arne Laurgard, Oluff Breden, and others, are all mentioned as tenants in Vaage.
[85] The place got its name from the curve taken by the road along the mountain, or because the road between the farms to the south and north goes round ("omkring") the crags that are there; for in olden days the word "omkring" (around) was, as it still partly is, in the language of the Bönder, "kringum." Likewise in old Norwegian the word "Kringla" meant a circle, a curve.
[86] Labourers (Bönderkarle) from Skjelqvale farm.
[87] Raadsbakken lies about five and a half Norwegian miles from Kringlen. The men of Lom are often to this day reproached by the other inhabitants of Gudbrandsdal for having gone back from Raadsbakken. Hjorthöi, in his "Description of Gudbrandsdalen" (Beskrivelse af Gudbrandsdalen), part ii., page 67, says that the word "Löer," which was likewise applied to them, originated from their having "lingered so long on Raadsbakken;" and he thinks that "Löer" is synonymous with Löi—that is, slothful, indolent, or dilatory in coming forward. But this conjecture is scarcely right, for "Lö" undoubtedly comes from the ancient name of the district—Lo, Loar (see Snorre Sturleson); moreover, the men of Lom tolerate their being called "Löer," which they certainly would not do if any disgrace attached to the appellation.
[88] Slange calls Guldbrand Sejelstad the "lensmand" at Ringebo, but in Kruse's Report, as well as in Hjorthöi's work, in the part above cited, that title is given to Peder Randklev. The name of the latter occurs likewise in Gram's Census, where, however, the name of the former is not to be found.
[89] [The barn shown in the illustration is now pointed out as the place where the soldiers slept, while Sinclair is said to have passed the night at the cottage depicted at p. 98.—T. M.]
[90] [Literally, scent-runner.—T. M.]
[91] [A "wild Turk" or "snouted Turk."—T. M.]
[92] Kruse, in his Report, gives the 26th August, which was also the date on the inscription (see Slange) on the more ancient post at Kringlen, which was destroyed by the flood in 1789, and in place of which the present post was raised, on which the inscription incorrectly gives the date of the 24th August.
[93] The mode of attack thus chosen by the Bönder was not new in Norway; we find a similar plan in "Kong Sverres Saga," ch. 18.
[94] There is still a farm called Skjenna, a little north of Sel church, but there is no farm of that name in Gram's Census.
[95] Boor, the English for Bonde; and "pert" is a Scotch word meaning horse. [Sic, Qe pertly?—T. M.]
[96] Hjorthöi's description, part ii., p. 135. There is no Arne Gunstad in Gram's Census, but the names of Joen and Oluff Gunstad, tenants, are mentioned. Arne may have been the son of one of these.
[97] The horn she used was a cow or bent horn, with five or eight holes in it.
[98] Hjorthöi, as well as tradition, calls him Berdon; in Gram's Census the name is written Berdun, and in Christian the Fourth's Deed of Gift Bardum; which various appellations are undoubtedly synonymous and only a variation produced by time and by the gradual corruption of the ancient name of Baard, Bard.
[99] Both Guri's air and the Scots' march are still played by the musicians of the district, but they have probably been much altered, especially the latter. They are both attached to this treatise, set for the piano. It may be that some of the original notes will be found in "Sinclair's March," and possibly the true "Sinclair March" may be found in Scotland; for it is credible that Colonel Sinclair made use of the pipe music of the Sinclair clan, and although the clans have long been broken up, there are still a great number of pipers over the whole of the north part of Scotland who know well all the old melodies, and transmit them from generation to generation.
[100] The superstition that men of extraordinary valour can render themselves invulnerable, and that leaden bullets were of no use against them, but that silver was essential, is still extant, and is or was common in many other countries. [See "Tales of a Grandfather" for the death of Dundee, shot with a silver bullet, and "Old Mortality," for further reference to this superstition.—T. M.]
[101] Hage or Hagebösse, in Norwegian (Haken or Hakenrohr, in German), was the first gun that replaced the bow or crossbow.—C. J. Chr. Berg on the "Land Defences," p. 252.
[102] Kruse's Report.
[103] The name is to be found in Gram's Census.
[105] In his Report Kruse says they were "four hundred and five men strong." In the "Ballad of the Valley" (see ante) they are stated at about five hundred men; and therefore the estimate of three hundred men given in the inscription on the post over Sinclair's grave appears to be erroneous.
[106] The barn still stands, a little north of Sinclair's grave, in the vicinity of the King's highway.
[107] At Agershuus Castle (the fort of Christiania).
[108] That is, to Denmark.
[109] That is, take Danish military service. Jörgen Lunge was a Danish nobleman, who was at that time in command of the Castle of Bohuus.
[110] Slange relates that "they were all shot and cut down except two." But in this respect he merits less credence than Kruse or the Sagas. Slange says also that "one of the prisoners was a glazier, who established himself in Norway and died there; while the other was sent to Scotland." This is also related in the Sagas; but that the latter was sent home "to tell his countrymen how it happened," is doubtless an addition made by Slange himself. To illustrate in how distorted a manner many of the later historians describe the incident at Kringlen, it may be mentioned as an example, among several others, that Fred. Sneedorff, in his lectures on the "History of the Fatherland," vol. ii., p. 106, and later even, Werlauff in the fourth edition, p. 191, of Munthe's "Pictures of Life," which he edited, perverted the account given by Slange to the effect that "one of the Scots established himself in the country as a glazier," by stating that he "established glass-works in Norway."
[111] Hjorthöi calls him Ingebrikt Sörvold, but neither that name nor that of Ingebrikt Valde is to be found in Gram's Census. On the other hand, Oluff and Knud Valde are mentioned as tenants.
[112] [Discovered there in 1885, and purchased by the author of this work, who has deposited it in the Anglican Church at Christiania for preservation.—T. M.]
[113] The present Christiania.
[114] [This family settled in Norway some time after 1612.—T. M.]
[115] [This phrase bears a suspicious resemblance to a passage in Njal's Saga (Iceland):—"Let us fly now; we have not to do with men, but with fiends."—T. M.]
[116] He is called Otter in Gram's Census.
[117] The name also occurs in Gram's Census.
[118] No one of that name is mentioned in Gram's Census.
[119] [The identical money-holster is now in the possession of Mr. J. Heftye. See illustration at p. 118.—T. M.]
[120] In 1612 the church stood nearer to the post, but it was later removed, owing to the encroachments of the river. At that time also the old church-yard at Qvam ceased to be used.
[When the present highroad was constructed the post was replaced by a large stone slab, inscribed:—
George Sinclair,
Buried after he had fallen at Kringelen, the
26th August 1612.—T. M.]
[121] This post was set up in 1789 by a couple of Bönder after an older one had been destroyed by the inundation.—N. H. C. Bloch's "Observations on a Journey from Trondhjem to Christiania, in 1806," p. 26.
[The tablet is now in the possession of Mr. J. Heftye. An illustration of it is given here.—T. M.]
[122] "1612, the 24th August."
[123] "900 Scots were beaten here by an inferior force of 300 Bönder from Lessö, Vaage, Froen, and Ringebo parishes."
[124] "When, in July (the 15th) 1733, the king was graciously pleased to travel past this place to Trondhjem."
The many inaccuracies in this inscription will be seen from what has been written above. The inscription is also printed in Kjerulf's Journal of Christian the Sixth's journey in Norway, 1733, p. 40; in Bing's "Norges Beskr" (Description of Norway), p. 348; in Hjorthöi's "Description of Gudbrandsdalen," part ii., pp. 33, 34; and in "Budstikken," 1821, p. 111. In Edvard Storm's collected poems (Copenhagen, 1785), the post is engraved on the title-page. The first two lines of the inscription are by the celebrated poet Bishop Kingo, and are to be found on the so-called Reisedalere (journey dollars) which King Frederick IV. caused to be distributed on his journey through Norway in 1704.
[125] [It now stands over the present road. See illustration.—T. M.]
[126] A detailed description of the cow-bane is given in Pontoppidan's "Natural History of Norway," part i., pp. 200-204; from Hjorthöi, part i., p. 98.
[127] [The frame of this drum is in the possession of Mr. J. Heftye.—T. M.]
[128] [Christiania.—T. M.]
[129] [Only five at present.—T. M.]
[130] If indeed these pistols really belonged to Sinclair, the above initials possibly point to a family connection between him and the Danish nobleman Anders (Andrew) Sinclar, who in 1607 emigrated from Scotland to Denmark, where his race died out at the end of the seventeenth century. Moreover, persons of that name lived in Norway a couple of centuries before the arrival of George Sinclair: thus David Sinclar is named as a civil officer of high rank at Bergen in 1416; and Anders Sinclar as a chief commander in Bohuus Castle from 1461 to 1464; and Aaseline, daughter of Henry Sinclar of Sanneberg, who was married to Anders van Bergen of Onerheim farm in Söndhordlehn, who at the close of the fifteenth century was a Norwegian Councillor of State ("Samlinger til det Norske Folksprog og Historie," vol. iii., p. 576). In addition to a Captain Sinclar, who is named in 1645, there is also mention, as being in this country in the seventeenth century, of one David Sinclar, who was on the 2nd August 1669 appointed by King Frederick III. Bailie of Eger or Lier, and who held the farm of Sem in Eger as tenant under the Crown; as also a Gregers Sinclar, who was undoubtedly related to the Sinclar just named, and who in 1688 lived at Vestfossen in Eger, where in that year, at the farm of Hals, he caused copper-works, with a smelting-house and stamping-mill, to be erected, but which, after working unsuccessfully for four years, he was obliged to abandon. Even at the end of the last century persons of the name of Sinclar resided in this country (Kraft's "Norges Beskr," part ii., pp. 406, 407; Ström's "Egers Beskr," p. 56; and documents in the State Archives and in the Archives of the Municipality of Christiania). It would, however, be difficult, in the absence of historical information, to decide how far any of the above-mentioned persons were related to each other, or whether any of them were descended from the noble Scottish family of Sinclair, as there was a whole clan of that name in Scotland. The Andrew (Anders) Sinclar above-mentioned may have belonged to that family, from which also the various Swedish noble families of that name are said to have derived their origin. Francis (Frants) Sinclar was the first of that name who was raised, in 1649, to the order of Swedish knighthood and nobility. (See Stjernman's "Register of Swedish Knighthood and Nobility," part i., pp. 425, 516, and 710, and p. 22, part iii.)
The Scottish noble family of Sinclair or St. Clair is of Norman origin, but it came originally from St. Clair in France, whence William St. Clair—a son of Walter, Earl of St. Clair, and Margaret, daughter of Richard, Duke of Normandy—emigrated in the twelfth century to Scotland, where he acquired extensive lands in Midlothian. The possessions of his descendants increased considerably under the munificence of the Kings of Scotland, especially during the reign of Robert Bruce, and embraced at last the baronies of Roslyn, Pentland, Cowsland, Catcune, and others. One of the same William St. Clair's descendants in a direct line—namely, Henry St. Clair (de Sancto Claro)—was in 1379 made, by King Hakon VI. of Norway, Jarl or Earl of the Orkney Islands, which were then under the suzerainty of the kingdom of Norway, and his family held that dignity until the year 1471, when by an Act of Parliament the Orkney Islands were annexed to the Scottish Crown, and in compensation for the same, William St. Clair, then Earl of Orkney and Earl of Caithness, received from King James III. the Castle of Ravensheuch, of which the ruins, still in existence, belong to the Earls of Roslyn, who represent a branch of the St. Clair family. According to Stjernman, the Earl of Orkney (vide "Catalogus Comitum Orcadensium" in the "Orkneyinga Saga," Havniæ, 1780) used as his motto the word "Fight." As adherents of the House of Stuart, the St. Clair family lost its lands and was obliged to wander in exile. As is well known, Walter Scott has described the tragical fate of the family in the sixth canto of his "Lay of the Last Minstrel." The family is, however, widely spread in Scotland, and the noble Swedish family of the same name is said to be descended from the St. Clairs of Freswick and Dunbeath. Although there is no historical certainty that George Sinclair, who fell at Kringlen, was also descended from the noble Scotch family of St. Clair, yet it is very probable that such was the case.
[131] [Dean Krag is probably right in doubting the authenticity of the "Sinclair pistols" at Copenhagen. The initials on them must be those of Anders or "Sir Andrew" Sinclair. Many of his letters to Robert, Earl of Salisbury, written between 1607 and 1621, are in the Public Record Office, London. In 1607, while in the service of the King of Denmark, he received £1,000 from King James I.; and in 1610 he urged Lord Salisbury to send him his pension, and also to obtain a loan from King James, as he had bought lands in Denmark of the value of forty thousand crowns, part of which he still owed. In 1610 he asked Lord Salisbury to be godfather and to give his Christian name to a son born in that year, his two elder sons having been named James and Christian. In 1611 he was made governor of the castle and town of Calmar. He was sent as ambassador to England in 1621. There was evidently no direct connection between him and George Sinclair, whose descent has been well established.—T. M.]
[132] Scheel's "Krigens Skueplads" (Seat of War), translated by Thaarup, p. 30; Bloch's "Reiseagttagelser" (Notes of Travel), p. 22; and Wilse's "Spydebergs Beskrivelse," Appendix, p. 68.
[133] [The farms here mentioned belonged at that time to the Crown, and had only been held on leases by the occupiers. The deeds of gift by Christian IV. are given in extenso in an Appendix to the Rev. H. P. S. Krag's work, but it has not been deemed necessary to reproduce them here.—T.M.]
[134] In a letter, dated Österaad, December 20, 1651, and preserved in the State Archives of Norway, Chancellor Ove Bjelke recommends the Norwegian Stadtholder Iver Krabbe to help a "Peder Eckre, formerly lensmand in Dovre," to obtain justice in a certain cause. He writes that he had "known his father, who was the man that had beaten Hr. Georgium Sincklar, who wanted to lead the Scottish folk through Gudbrandsdalen." In Gram's Census is named as a tenant at Lessö, in addition to Lauritz (Lars) Hage, also a Lauritz Eckre; but it is not improbable that Lars Hage had also the lease of Ekre, and consequently the two persons would be identical. In the latter case, it may be assumed that Peder Ekre was a son of Lars Hage, who may have inherited the farm of Ekre and the office of lensmand from his father. There is no doubt that Peder Ekre is the lensmand of that name who (according to Hjorthöi, part ii., p. 7) received from the Crown the farm of Hundenæs in Lessö for his "loyalty and diligence" at the siege of Trondhjem in the year 1658; and if this is so, he was a brave son of a brave father.
[135] In addition to the poetical treatment of the event by Edvard Storm in the romance which is so popular for its "Homeric naïveté," it has been treated dramatically by K. L. Rahbek under the title of "Skottekrigen eller Bondebrylluppet i Gudbrandsdalen" (The Scottish War; or, The Bonde Wedding in Gudbrandsdalen). It was published separately (Copenhagen, 1810), and is also to be found in the collection of his plays, vol. ii., pp. 1-83. The event is also the subject of a tragedy by Henry Wergeland, "Sinclars Död" (Sinclair's Death), Christiania, 1828; and J. St. Wang's novel, "Skottertoget eller Slaget ved Kringen" (The Scottish Expedition; or, The Battle of Kringen), two volumes, Christiania, 1836 and 1837, is founded upon it.